Olympics: London want Redgrave in driving seat

Sir Steven Redgrave, Britain's greatest Olympian, is to be reunited with his victorious rowing partner, Matthew Pinsent, to aim for the biggest prize of all - a London Olympic Games in 2012.

Redgrave, who teamed up with Pinsent to win three of his five Olympic gold medals before retiring from competitive sport after his triumph in Sydney, has been offered a seat on the board of directors of the London bid committee by Barbara Cassani, the bid chairwoman.

His presence will provide a high-profile boost to the London campaign which is expected to move into a new gear this week when the complete line-up of non-executive directors is finally announced.

Cassani, who is permitted to make four non-executive appointments, has also decided to play the Manchester card following last summer's highly successful Commonwealth Games.

Her 'picks' will include Charles Allen, the Granada chairman and leader of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, and Sir Howard Bernstein, the chief executive of Manchester City Council.

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Her fourth appointment is still to be finalised but it is understood that there will be no place for Lord Coe, who was recently elected to the council of the International Association of Athletics Federations and who had been widely tipped to be offered the vice-chairmanship. Instead, he is likely to be handed a roving, ambassadorial role.

The three stakeholders behind the bid - the Government, the Greater London Authority and the British Olympic Association - will each make two further appointments, and they will be joined in the boardroom by three of Britain's four International Olympic Committee members - Pinsent, Craig Reedie and the Princess Royal.

Although the exact make-up of the board has yet to be confirmed, it is understood that Patrick Carter, the chairman of Sport England and the former Wembley Stadium trouble-shooter, is likely to be one of the Government's representatives.

Neil Coleman, a key adviser to London mayor Ken Livingstone, will be one of the GLA's appointments, while the BOA have put forward their own chief executive, Simon Clegg, and Simon Brace, chairman of the British Paralympic Association.

The management line-up is also beginning to take shape. The role of chief operating officer will be filled by Michael Power, 55, a long-serving executive with the pharmaceutical giant Proctor and Gamble.